why police say the driver of this suv will likely face felony charges before the end of the day. a showdown in congress right now that could impact the future of gays and lesbians who serve in the military. >> reporter: and legalizing marijuana. the debate volleys across the bay. hear what both sides have to say. the noon news is moments away. good afternoon.

topping our news this noontime, the investigation into a horrible early-morning crash in san jose. it happened on almaden expressway which just reopened. part of it was closed for hours following the crash that killed a teenaged passenger and injureed the teenaged driver. the driver faces a number of serious charges and alcohol was involved. kraig debro joins us live with new information. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. the intersection, almaden expressway. if you look over there, can you see the cleanup is still under- - you can see the cleanup is still underway. the driver of the 2001 ford explorer is facing serious charges. police are questioning him at the headquarters but they plan to book him today. the man's friend said he was

drinking. >> i knew who it was when i saw it. >> reporter: the driver's grandmother confirm he was in an zen. his friends saw him just yesterday. >> yesterday. it was all good and now it's not. >> reporter: police are not releasing names. parents came to the home -- parents and friends came to the home of the victim to comfort them. >> it was probably around 3:30. it was right before a large explosion and i saw fire and police had already gone out there. >> reporter: police say the explorer crashed into a light standard when the driver lost control. speed is the contributing factor. following the crash, the car burst into flames.

penning was able to free himself but the passenger died in the fire. >> i did see the police may have been looking for possible other persons that had been in the wreck. >> reporter: friends of the two young men involved in the accident came to the scene and they told others the driver had been drinking. the passenger had not. when they tried to get the driver to give up his keys, he refused. one of the friends refused a ride home rather than go in the same vehicle. reporting live in san jose, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news ktvu channel 2 news. the novato school district wants to know why no adults spotted the student who was allegedly drunk hours before he left campus and got into a car crash that killed one of his classmates. four of the novato students

were in the car. i -- isaach brock died in the crash. the 16-year-old was later vast arrested for dui. a vallejo man is behind bars for the murder of his girlfriend. police say 39-year-old william ubando flew into a rage, when his girlfriend tried to break up with him yesterday afternoon. police believe he brutally beat her to death in the parking lot of the glencoe park and then put her in his car, and calling his ex-wife and others confessing to the crime. >> there was a large amount of blood located in both her vehicle and his vehicle. the amount of force used by him

on her indicated it was an extremely brutal attack. >> the two worked together at a care facility in san rafael and had been dating for ten months. an autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. police in oakland have issued an important warning for people near lake merritt. they say two women were sex earlier assaulted during robberies on sunday night. one happened at east 18th on lakeshore. the other on third avenue. police believe the same people may be responsible for both attacks. they say these kinds of robberies often take place when people are distracted by things like cell phones or when they are getting in and out of their car. they are planning to release a sketch of the attacker later today. this morning, deputies released a police sketch of a man who reportedly tried to kidnap a 12- year-old in castro valley.

investigators describe him as latino, he has short, black hair, dark skin and and a goatee. investigators say a man in a red or maroon four-door sedan repeatedly asked the girl to get in his car. she he immediately ran. one of the ballots, proposition number 19, regarding legalizing marijuana. jade hernandez has more from san francisco. >> reporter: good afternoon. what happens if california legalizes marijuana. no one knows for sure, but the opponents and supporters of prop 19 met on opposite sides of the bay. proposition 19 is a california ballot initiative which would legalize marijuana. the battle continues over those

voters and those who see legalization as a way to fight the war on pot and have police focus efforts on most serious crimes. in china town this morning, several groups presented information show lag they say are the effects of marijuana and what it can do to the brain. the press conference began at 10:30 at san francisco. opponents who gathered also say legalizing marijuana will create chaos and force local governments to disregard federal law. the mind-altering substance itself can create a lot of detrimental defect, such as abuse, intoxications, wicket drawl -- wicket drawal -- withdrawal. >> there is a controlled substances act in 1970.

under that act, marijuana is a controlled substance. california cannot pass its own law to override those laws. >> reporter: meanwhile, supporters met across broadway and oakland. they say voting in favor of it is -- and that the marijuana prohibition controlled years ago like alcohol did. >> we have an opportunity to cut in to half of what we spend on law enforcement, the courts and the prisons and to what effect, we're arresting 1.8 million people a year. i really think it's insane. california has an opportunity to change all of this with their vote on prop 19. the man you just heard from is a former governor of new mexico, gary johnson. sal castanedo will have more on this for you tonight. reporting live from san francisco, jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news.

>> thank you, jade. at it final meeting before the november -- at its final meeting before the november election, the feds said it's more worried about prices falling than rising because the economy is so weak. the fed left interest rates but signaled it will take steps to help the economy. however, the feds are taking a wait and see approach to see if the economy can heal on its own. breaking news out of washington, d.c. senate republicans have blocked an effort to repeal the law banning gays from openly serving in the military. this is part of a larger defense bill that authorizes $ $726 billion in military spending over the next year. the democrats needed at least 60 votes to advance the bill and that included the vote of susan collins. just know she arked with

republicans -- she argued that republicans were not able to have a leeway -- >> i think we should welcome thevies who are willing and -- the individuals who are willing and able to serve their country. i cannot vote to proceed with this bill under a situation that's going to shut down the debate and preclude republican amendments. that, too, is not fair. republicans are also furious that ds moved ahead with the vote before the pentagon finished an assessment on how to lift the ban without causing problems on troops. more than a half-dozen public officials in a california city were arrested this moving. details on the charges coming up. good news for students at a bay area elementary school. we'll explain why today is such

a special day. summer officially ends soon. you can't tell by looking at the bay area forecast. steve paulson has details. i've always had had a love for the san francisco bay and the shoreline and the shoreline parks. just ahead, you will need a special man who is a hero for those who love to spend time outdoors. ational pastime? saving money. and like baseball people love their stats. i started bringing my lunch to work -- 50 bucks a week in my pocket. here's a good one: state farm insures 40 million drivers. more than geico and progressive combined. i saved because i'm accident-free. of course, with so many ways to save including discounts of up to 40%, having that many customers shouldn't be a surprise. so ask a neighbor about state farm, then call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online.

a major injury crash involving a motorcyclist this morning blocked traffic on the golden gate bridge for a time. the motorcycle rear ended a toyota forerunner just before 9 a.m. just north of the toll plaza. traffic in both directions was affected by the crash. the lane was cleared and reopened around 9:30. the conditions of the accident victims are not known. in marin county an anonymous donor is offering a $25,000 reward to help solve the murder of an elderly tiburon resident. it will be exactly one year tomorrow since the body of joan rosenthal was found in her home. the marin county sheriff's department has spent almost 4,000 hours on the investigation but have been unable to identify a suspect. that includes more than 100 interviews. anyone with information can

call an anonymous tip line but they must be willing to identify themselves to get the reward. six victims are still in the hospital with severe injuries from the explosion in san bruno. two victims are recovering at the san francisco general hospital. this morning doctors say one has been upgraded and both are in fair condition. four others are being treated at the burn center in san francisco. doctors say they are making slow but steady progress. ground was broken this morning on a new school multi- purpose building and a future community center. the project is at nydstrom school. it will be part of a unique collaboration twine the west contra costa school district and the city of richmond. >> this total project with the multi-purpose room also

involves a complete renovation of the room behind me is a total of about a $230 million -- $23 million project altogether. this week, ktvu and our parent company, cox enterpriseses, are bringing you the stories of five people who are making a difference in their communities. they've all been nominated as cox conservative heroes. here's more about a man whose work is already being enjoyed by hundreds of people. >> reporter: on a sunday sunny morning people walk along the trail. but how many are aware this trail became about because of the work of one man and the organization he started 11 years ago. bruce biart is founder of

"trac" dedicating to completing this portion of the hike trail, a walking bike track. >> i've always had a love for san francisco bay and the shoreline and the shoreline parks. we thought it would be a great project. no one was focusing on it in the east bay. in fact, very few people had heard of the trail. >> reporter: this portion of the trail cuts across land once occupied by the kaiser shipland to turn out ships for world war ii. >> when we started, there were little trail segments in the park. by year's end we'll have 30 miles of bay trail built in richmond and that will be 10%

of 300 miles completed throughout the nine-county bay area. >> reporter: "trac" has prepared its own brochure for people to use as a guide to the trail. the city council nominated him. >> the city council is dedicated to the trail but bruce is doing all of the work. what a deal? >> reporter: bruce biart freely giving his time to build the trails. bill martin, ktvu channel 2 news. >> go to ktvu.com to learn about all of the conner ises -- conserves nominees. and you can see the videos of all of the local nominees. you can also vote until october 10th for which hero you think should get a $5,000,000 contribution. let's check in with steve

paulson. last day of summer? >> he why. fall begins -- yes. fall begins. we'll see temperatures very summer like. still some patchy low clouds around. now the higher clouds are inching in and here they come. we have the low clouds coming down the peninsula. but the higher clouds are associated with the very weak system right there. had the cloud cover on the weekend. warmed up a little bit. now everything is back to another cool down. some of those higher clouds will start to punch into mendocino county. sonoma county, about san francisco, oakland north. we're not expecting any rain out of that. but a lot of clouds and some cooler temperatures. cooler, breezy, windy. the wind is already beginning to pick up as well. it was about 15, 20 miles an hour. 60s and 70s. temperatures coming down.

everybody across the board in the 60s. 60 san francisco to 68 livermore/concord, also santa rosa and even napa. 67 up in tahoe. reno is warmer than anybody almost. 65 in ukiah. 55 chilly degrees. a little warmer as you head south. there is a lot of fog in southern california. this system is going to go into the north and settle in after it ejects out then we'll see gradual warming. that couple of days will feel fall like. fog and sun, cooler, breezy to windy, more clouds to the north. those higher clouds are already beginning to move in. tomorrow will be even cooler, tori, that system drops in. the cool air is in place. now fall starts again. thursday morning could be very chilly. >> thank you, steve. >> you bet.

several city officials in the scandal-plagued los angeles suburb of bell are now under arrest. the mayor and ex-city manager are among eight current and former city officials taken into custody this morning in a corruption investigation. the district attorney and state attorney general, jerry brown, have been conducting investigations since it was disclosed the city officials were paying themselves enormous salaries. the ex-city manager, robert rizzo, for example, was making nearly $800,000 a year. walmart has plans to build new urban stores in several places around the country, including the city of san francisco. the world's biggest retailer is looking to open as many as 400 smaller new stores around the country. walmart execs are not giving many details but there are about two dozen planned for the bay area. the stores would be smaller than a grocery store and would

focus on selling fresh food. an embarrassing hacking situation involving twitter. and giants' fans still have hopes for the playoffs. now they have a way to express that faith with their wallet. e ret ma oilwi totr wco l wcote

taking a live look at the big board on wall street, numbers have gone higher as soon as the federal reserve made their announcement after their meeting this morning,

saying they would be ready for the change in the economy. a new report suggests women may have born the brunt of the recession when it comes to the financial industry itself. "the wall street journal" broke down data and found that 145,000 women left the finance industry over the past decade. that accounts for 2.5% of all females. meanwhile, 389,000 men joined the industry. the report finds most that technology replaced jobs weld -- held by women. twitter has fixed a hacker situation this morning. the company says users should log out and then log back in to

fix the problem. white house spokesman robert gibbs was apparently one of the people affected. today giants fans have their first chance to buy tickets for the playoffs, assuming the team makes it to the playoffs. tickets can be bought on the website or by phone. they are not being told by the at&t park box office. they say that's so fans will have a better chance of scoring seats. fans can buy no more than a total of six tickets. the giants are currently a half game up in the national league west. sacramento's arco arena is about to get a new name. after 25 years, they desouthern californiaed not to use the -- decided not to use the naming rights deal. they will leave the arco name in police until the end of the nba season. arco played $250,000 a year to have its name on the building. oracle plays $3 million a year

to have its name on the stadium where the raiders play. new information points out where hot spots are in the pg&e explosion. thanks for watching. have a great day.